What a dispiriting loss. After roaring out to an early 13 point lead, we slowly let it slip away over the 2nd and 3rd quarters, before finally folding and getting run off the court in the 4th. We didn’t play particularly poorly, either, which is the scariest part of the loss. What adjustments can we make? Let’s dive in to the keys I looked at in my last post and see where things went wrong.
Key Match-up #1: Tony Parker.
They started the game with Antoine Wright on Parker, and Parker abused him mercilessly. He actually missed 2 or 3 early lay-ups, but he was driving to the rim with impunity, and was getting any look he wanted for himself and for teammates. Life was good.
Then they put JJ Barea on him, and, as Pop likes to say, the worm turned. Barea is a gadfly, and he pestered Parker. He induced two charging calls, and Parker seemed to take the challenge personally, opting to go at him at every opportunity, often to the detriment of our team game. Don’t let Parker’s nice stat line fool you; he played poorly, and his improvement in subsequent games is more important than any adjustment that Pop can make. As Tony goes, so do the Spurs go.
Key Match-up #2: Tim Duncan.
Duncan played great. He was in playoff mode. He was abusing Dampier on the low block, even as he was getting fouled time and again with no calls coming. If we had doubts about which Duncan we were getting, they were answered in this game. Hopefully he can stay relatively healthy and rested and be able to give us these performances most nights in the postseason.
Key Match-ups #3 and #4: Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry.
We actually defended these two very well. We employed a liberal switching defense on Nowitzki, rarely allowing him into isolations or favorable match-ups. We would often double him, but we were never consistent in our attack, and we kept him off guard most of the night. In the first half we forced him into two offensive fouls that sent him to the bench early.
However, we can not afford to keep Bonner on him one-on-one. That’s more or less a guaranteed 2 points. Bonner puts out effort, but if he’s not hitting his 3s, he serves very little purpose to us in this series. Bonner was in foul trouble most of the game, but his offense was non-existent.
We did a great job on Terry, as well. He had Bowen sicced on him most of the game, and this was definitely a vintage Bowen performance. Terry was rarely able to get the ball, and when he did, he had almost no room to rise up and shoot or drive. When Bowen was on him, he was mostly a spectator. This is exactly what I wanted to see, and I feel good about this match-up going forward.
Key 1: Which Duncan?
I think we got this answer. We’re seeing Playoff Duncan, and I think we continue to see him.
Key 2: Josh Howard.
This is what I was afraid of. He came out firing early, but was off the mark, so did very little damage in the first quarter, where he should be most feared. But apparently he thought the third quarter was the first, because he torched us in the third quarter and was responsible for the momentum that turned the game in the Mavs favor in the second half and left us playing catch-up the rest of the way. He’s playing on a bum ankle that will need surgery in the offseason, so perhaps he won’t be able to keep this production up through the entire series. But if does, we’re in trouble.
Key 3: The Benches.
Well, I was way off on this one. And this, more than anything else (besides Parker’s lackluster play), was responsible for loss. JJ Barea and Brandon Bass played like seasoned playoff vets. Bass was on fire late in the 2nd to close the gap into halftime. He doesn’t have a lot of size, but he does have the athleticism that often gives us trouble.
I don’t even know where to begin on Barea. We’ve seen this before. Barea had a great game in our double overtime victory against the Mavs earlier in the season. But I didn’t expect Barea to be the best point guard on the court, which he was. Halfway through the 4th quarter, I was begging for Jason Kidd to get back on the court just so the Barea onslaught would end. This might be our single most important adjustment going into game 2: how do we slow Barea? Back in that double OT game we eventually put Bowen on him, which slowed him down. So do we put Bowen on him and let Terry run free? If we only have one stopper, who does he stop? At some point, Parker is going to have to take the challenge defensively, and either slow down Terry or Barea. If he doesn’t, one of them will be able to go off. (I would suggest that we also use George Hill, but since it seems unlikely that he’ll make the court in this series, we won’t give it too much consideration.)
Meanwhile, our bench was average. They didn’t play horribly, but we didn’t get much production from Gooden or Thomas. If Duncan is our only productive big, we’re in trouble. Bowen actually played a great, vintage Bowen game (as I stated earlier), and was our most valuable bench player. Udoka was ok, but we need a little more offense out of him.
Keys 4 and 5: 3-Point Shooting/ Mason, Jr. and Finley.
We shot the lights out from 3. Probably our best shooting performance of the season from downtown. In fact, it’s doubtful we can continue to shoot that well. But we need our offense from 3 to be consistent.
Both Mason, Jr. and Finley played solid games. Finley was definitely keyed up and is still looking to exact revenge on his former team. He shot well, but he played with a spring in his step and an aggressiveness that we don’t usually see from him. But I was expecting this.
I was happy with Mason, Jr.’s play. He’s been great for us all season, but the playoffs are a different beast. He seemed a little out of sorts early, and got the early hook from Pop. But he calmed down, and played a good game. He hit shots, and he ran the point well in Tony’s absence. My only concern is that when he is at the point guard, he has a lot of trouble defending opposing point guards, especially Barea (who he will often be matched up against).
Key 6: Defense.
Kind of a mixed bag here. Our defensive schemes to slow down their biggest threats (Nowitzki and Terry) worked beautifully. But everyone else on their team played great and made us pay. We were also a little weak in the interior, as we had nobody to secure defensive boards when Duncan was drawn away from the glass. This is where we need Gooden and Thomas. Dampier killed us on offensive boards, put backs, and second chance points. We gave up 21 second chance points. That’s obscene. We have to shore up our rebounding, limiting them to just one shot.
Looking ahead to Game 2:
The postseason is all about adjustments, and Pop is the master of mid-series adjustments. They struck first, but the losing team is often in the driver’s seat for the second game, as they get to make the adjustments that can give them the edge in Game 2.
Keep an eye on Josh Howard, and see if he stays aggressive and healthy.
Keep an eye on Parker and see if we get a more focused, aggressive, yet controlled Tony.
Keep an eye on Barea and Bass, and if we make any adjustments to slow them down.
Keep an eye on Bowen and who he guards, and if we use him to slow down somebody else at the expense of leaving Terry open.
Keep an eye on if we change our overall defensive schemes, especially on Dirk.
Keep an eye on our bench, and if we can get any more output from them.
Keep an eye on our defensive rebounding, and if we can limit the Mavs on their second chance point opportunities.
The loss in game 1 stings; but it’s a long series, and we’re very capable of winning in Dallas. H
owever, we must secure one of these first two games, making Game 2 a must win. I’m eager to see how the Spurs respond. This is a referendum on our season and on our team as a whole.
Go Spurs Go.
Seeing that lead dwindle was heartbreaking.
To me, Tony was sucking too much wind, and that’s what led to the charge calls/ poor play.
We’re going to need a true back up point guard.
Agreed. Sometimes you get those games from Tony where his head just doesn’t seem to be in it. Last night was a little different. He just seemed to be trying a bit too hard, and didn’t quite have enough gas. But I do think that sometimes he tries to do too much one-on-one, especially against players he thinks he should school, ie, Barea.
Whatever the cause, we need a better Tony to have any chance of winning this series.
And yes, we need a back up PG. Have for about 5 years.